You were able to give them a way to go along with you WITHOUT admitting their rule was wrong. That must have helped a lot.
We have a large home and all the kids are out of the nest, so my wife has a nice home office, I have a nice home office, and the dog and cat share a bedroom.
I honestly cannot imagine commuting to an office again, ever. I hated it then, and the appeal has not grown. I prefer large commercial projects, so there are few phone calls, and a client comes over on average once every three years. If I get sleepy after lunch, a nap is just 60 feet away.
My office at home is a room converted from a portion of the garage. Separated from the main living areas of the home, but not separate enough.
If I go back into business for myself, I will need to get an office that is at least far enough away from the house to discourage family members from just barging in with the intent of having me drop whatever I'm doing to attend to their urgent need during business hours, and so that I, and more importantly, whoever may be on the other end of the phone don't have to hear the kids hollering or fighting right outside the office door.
I put a sign on the door to my office that said:
Dear Family Member,
Is it before 7AM? Is it after 5PM?
Are you or another family member bleeding profusely
or have a broken bone?
Is there a forest fire nearby?
Is your son or little brother about to do something that
will cause serious injury, property damage, or start a fire?
[1st version asked Is there an emergency?, but I found I needed to be more specific]
Unless you answered "yes" to any
of these questions, go away.
If you answered "yes" to any of these questions...
... Before you enter, knock and wait for a reply...
Do not enter unless you receive a reply.
I thought that was going to help until I had to explain to my wife that the sign applied to her as well as she interrupted work more often and monopolized far more of my business hours time than all of the kids combined.
Looking back on it, I think that was the beginning of the end of my private practice.
That's the one drawback in my home office, mainly because I'm a big softie. The cat sits in the hallway and hollers for someone to tuck him into bed, and one hour early for lunch and supper the dog sits under my desk and stares so I won't forget what's really important. I think of those interruptions as a family perk. Way better than a regular office.
Bruce, if the interruptions were like that, or "Hi Daddy. I made you a sandwich for lunch", or my wife expressing how appreciative she is to have a husband that works so hard for his family, it wouldn't have bothered me at all.
What it usually was were 2 or 3 kids bursting in, yelling at the top of their lungs (to ensure that whoever is in the room with whoever is on the other end of the phone gets a clear understanding of the dispute) "He's a little jerk! He blah, blah, blah, and he called me a @#^$ &!^@#!"; "Did not! She's just being RUDE! And she hit me! and she...." "Did not!" "Did too!"...... or my wife coming in to complain about the kids fighting, or both.
If I want to have any chance at being effective at either, I've found that I need to make a clear distinction between family time and work time.
The trouble with working from the house:
If you're self-employed, your whole family thinks you're unemployed... (Can you come in here for a minute and help me sort this laundry?).....